MANCHESTER, NH, 7 July 2014 - The University of New
Hampshire at Manchester and Relyea Chess will host the first ever United States
Girls Junior Closed Championship, July 17 through July 21. Concurrent with the
championship the New Hampshire Chess Association will host a 2-hours "Basics of
Chess" classroom for young girls and boys within the Manchester community.

The US Girls Junior Closed Championship is a prestigious,
nine-round tournament that will have ten of the top-rated girls (under age 20)
in the United States. The winner will be recognized internationally as the US
Girls Closed Champion by the United States Chess Federation, will receive a
$2,000 cash prize and will be awarded a $10,000 scholarship to the University
of New Hampshire.

In 1966, the United States Chess Federation started the US Junior Closed Championship, which provides the winner a seat into the US Championship.
This year, F. Alex Relyea, FIDE arbiter and Associate National Tournament
Director based in Bedford, NH, decided that an equally prestigious event for
girls should exist.

The opening ceremony will be at 8:00am on Thursday, July 17
in room 323 at the University of New Hampshire at Manchester campus, 400
Commercial Street, Manchester, NH. All games are free and open for public
viewing. Spectators are invited to attend. Details can be found at www.relyeachess.com.

The "Basics of Chess" short course will be held from 1-3pm
EDT on Friday, 18 July in the University of New Hampshire auditorium. The
course will be led by NH Chess Association scholastics coordinators, Vince
Bradley, Eugene Tappen and Nita Patel.

Relyea Chess is dedicated to bringing high quality,
specialty chess tournaments to New England. For example, Relyea Chess hosted a
first-ever 26-person round robin blitz tournament, directed the prestigious New
England Open multiple times and organized a unique FIDE, invitational, round
robin. Relyea Chess is a private organization affiliated with the United States
Chess Federation.